GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Midas / Big O Tires Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “This is always a good race. The (handling of the) cars are going to go off a lot in the race. We will start in the back so we just have to make sure we have a good car. I’ve never made as many big setup changes for qualifying as we did just then but to be honest the Midas / Big O Tires car was absolutely fantastic in Turns 1 and 2 but obviously you could see the understeer in Turns 3 and 4; the front (of the car) just gave up; it wouldn’t hold. We won’t be doing that pace in the race and I feel pretty good about the race car. After how good it was in Turns 1 and 2 on that first lap I probably overestimated how good it was going to be in Turn 3 and 4. It just didn’t want to turn. It heated up between practice sessions today. The car wasn’t as slow as the lap time showed; I think we were probably a top-12 car. But I was really struggling with understeer a lot and it wasn’t getting any better so we decided to do something pretty big to get some understeer out of it and we changed three or four big things and it worked. I was very pleased with the car in Turns 1 and 2 but we have to find grip off of Turns 3 and 4. I’ve qualified up front here and faded in the race and I’ve seen a lot of guys do the opposite. We’ve just got to hope we’re doing the opposite.”

FAST FACTS: Will be his be his fifth race here. Missed winning his first pole in 2008 by 2/10th of a second over a four lap average and started a career best second to Andretti in what was the first Andretti/Rahal front row since 1992 in Loudon, NH. Ran between second and fourth until L130 when he drove over “marbles” and lost control of his car after trying to go around the slower car of Manning. Retired in 25th place. Qualified 2nd in 2009 and briefly took the lead at the start but dropped to third by the end of the lap and ultimately finished fourth, his highest finish on an oval at the time. In 2010, he ran a partial season and did not race at Milwaukee. In 2011 he qualified 12th and finished 2nd. He qualified 17th, started 11th in 2012 after many ahead served an engine change penalty and finished ninth… His best finish this season issecond place in Long Beach and best start is 11th also in Long Beach… Is ranked 18th in series standings with 135 points.

JAMES JAKES, No. 16 Acorn Stairlifts Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I went too aggressive with the tools in the cockpit on the out lap and I nearly crashed on my warm-up lap. Then I came back with the tools and maybe didn’t need to but we are starting 12th. It was a perfect lap but good enough for 12th. It’s a shame because I think we could have been a little higher up but to save it after the out lap was pretty good. In previous years, after that we would have started in the back so it was nice to kind of save it. The Acorn Stairlifts car was quick last weekend, we just didn’t manage to pull of the strategy. Hopefully we can pull off a good finish this weekend. It’s a long race tomorrow and strategy will be key.”

FAST FACTS: Will be third event here. He qualified 20th in 2012 and started 16th after engine penalties of others were served but retired in 21st after contact with Sato near the halfway point in the race. In 2011 he qualified 23rd and finished 15th – both years with Dale Coyne Racing… Two races ago in Detroit was a breakthrough event for Jakes as he earned his highest career start and finish in Dual 2 in Detroit of second place… It is his third season in the IndyCar Series and first with RLL. In 31 Indy car starts with Dale Coyne Racing from 2011-2012, his best finish was eighth at Toronto and series-best start of eighth was at Motegi… His best start to date this season is 2nd at Detroit Dual 2 and best finish is also 2nd in Detroit’s Dual 2 … Is ranked 14th in series standings with 148 points.

2 WINS, 3 POLES, 4 PODIUMS & 4 FRONT ROW STARTS AT MILWAUKEE MILE FOR RLL RACING: The Milwaukee IndyFest will mark the 19th event for RLL at the legendary Milwaukee Mile oval. The team WON here twice (Kenny Brack 2001 & Michel Jourdain Jr. 2003), started from POLE three times (Bobby Rahal 1999, Kenny Brack 2001, Vitor Meira 2004), made four FRONT ROW STARTS (2nd – Jourdain Jr. 2003) and earned FOUR PODIUMS (2nd: Rahal 2004, Rice 2004). Prior to the 2013 event, the team prepared a total of 34 entries for drivers such as Rahal (1992-98), Mike Groff (1993-94), Raul Boesel (1995), Bryan Herta (1996-99), Max Papis (1999-2001), Kenny Brack (2000-2001), Jimmy Vasser (2002), Michel Jourdain Jr. (2002-03), Buddy Rice (2004-06), Vitor Meira (2004-05), Danica Patrick (2005-06), Jeff Simmons (2006-07), Scott Sharp (2007), Ryan Hunter-Reay (2008) and Takuma Sato (2012). The team has earned 10 top-five finishes and 19 top-10’s at the track. The No. 15 Midas / Big O Tires entry for Graham Rahal and the No. 16 Acorn Stairlifts entry for James Jakes will bring that total to 36 in 2013… LAST YEAR AT MILWAUKEE: Sato qualified 14th last year but started 24th due to an engine change penalty from Texas. He ran as high as 10th and was 13th when contact ended his race after 107/225 laps.

NEXT UP: The 250-lap Milwaukee IndyFest will take place Saturday, June 15, and will be televised live by NBC Sports Network at 4 PM (ET). It will also be broadcast by the IMS Radio Network on Sirius XM (XM 94 and Sirius 212). Timing and Scoring information is available for all sessions from www.indycar.com.